Financial Literacy Starts Early

With credit card debt averages at about $16,000 dollars and last year's bankruptcy filings at more than a million, financial experts are worried about the future.

CPA's and bankers from the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants and from Junior Achievement spent Thursday teaching students across the state about money for the 3rd annual Financial Literacy Day.

As CFO of Home Bank, Joseph Zanco says, "you don't have to look any further than the level of credit card debt and bankruptcies to know that across the country we don't do an effective job educating our youth on financial literacy."

1st and 4th graders at Prairie Elementary learned about responsibility and earning money by working hard.

Local financial experts say learning to manage money starts at an early age.

"This is not an adult problem-- we need to start young, to teach them how to finance their money and spend wisely and invest wisely," says June DeBaillon from Junior Achievement.